Consumer perspectives on Medicaid managed care: a comparison between rural and urban enrollees in one selected health plan.

This report presents the findings from a telephone survey of 313 respondents who have family members enrolled in Medicaid managed care in a multicounty region that encompasses both rural and urban counties in Wisconsin. Some demographic differences were noted between the rural and urban families that might affect their impressions of the health care system, their needs for services and their abilities to use those services appropriately. Families in the urban counties had poorer access to health care, as they were more likely to report at least one child not being assigned to a primary care provider.

Nursing drives interdisciplinary health care workforce planning in Wisconsin: one state's experience.

The Consortium for Primary Care in Wisconsin convened a forum to develop an interdisciplinary primary care workforce plan to address issues related to the supply of and demand for primary health care providers in Wisconsin. Nursing leaders played a pivotal role in making this effort successful and in ensuring that the focus would be on all primary health care professionals, not just physicians. This process used a primary care workforce planning tool (IRM) developed by the Bureau of Health Professions, U.

Barriers to the use of preventive health care services for children.

This article describes findings from interviews of parents targeted for outreach efforts that encouraged them to use Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment(EPSDT) Program. Begun in the 1970s, the EPSDT program held out the promise of ensuring that needy children would receive comprehensive preventive care. With only one-third of eligible children in the United States receiving EPSDT checkups, the program has yet to fulfill its promise.

The substitution of physician assistants and nurse practitioners for physician residents in teaching hospitals.

This study documents features of clinical departments in teaching hospitals that are using physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) to perform some tasks previously done by medical or surgical residents. More than 60 percent of teaching hospital medical directors surveyed reported experience with substitution in their hospitals. The experience overall appears to be positive; one-third of the departments are planning to increase the number of PAs and NPs they use.

Communicating research findings to readers of clinical nursing journals: guidance for prospective authors.

The dissemination of research through publication in professional journals is important for the advancement of pediatric nursing practice. Without knowledge of current research, practitioners cannot take actions to apply research to improve the health of the children and families they serve. To ensure that practitioners can make the most appropriate use of quantitative research findings, research publications must adhere to specific scientific standards for the conduct and reporting of research.